Joe Cordina has become the 13th Welsh world champion with a vicious second-round knockout of IBF title holder Kenichi Ogawa.
Before the fight in Cardiff, all the talk was of Ogawa's power, the suggestion being that the 2016 Olympian needed to gain the respect of his Japanese opponent during the early stages.
However, despite the champion arguably having the better of the opening three minutes, it was Cordina who dramatically wiped out Ogawa with a dream of a right hand before the midway point of the second round.
Although Ogawa made a valiant attempt to get back to his feet, the fight was effectively over as soon as he heavily hit the canvas, the 34-year-old being pole-axed by an opponent who has seemingly gained ferocious punch power since a successful hand operation.
JOE CORDINA JUST DID THAT 👀#OgawaCordina pic.twitter.com/OXsBcqgqVe
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) June 4, 2022
Speaking to DAZN after the fight, the 30-year-old said: "It is a lifetime of work gone into five and a half minutes of work. I'm just so thankful.
"I've been throwing some big punches in this camp, I've been in with the likes of Conor Benn and sparred with him and he is one of the kost explosive boxers. We've been working hard in the gym.
"We've been working on that punch all camp and it's an amazing feeling when you put hours and hours into it and it comes off- in the fight and it's lights out."
Promoter Eddie Hearn is likely to target an all-British clash with Zelfa Barrett, who won the European title in the chief support, but WBC and WBO champion Shakur Stevenson acknowledged that he is open to an unification clash in the United Kingdom.
Told y'all he the best fighter @ 130 from England.. I would love to come to England for some 💨 tho champ congrats @JoeCordina_91
— Shakur Stevenson (@ShakurStevenson) June 4, 2022
Cordina will be regarded as the clear favourite against Barrett should a fight materialise, but the Mancunian produced one of the performances of his career to defeat Faroukh Kourbanov.
Barrett did not significantly hurt the champion during their 12-round contest, despite the uppercut doing particular damage to his opponent.
As expected, the scorecards were wide in Barrett's favour, the judges returning 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 respectively.
© Reuters
Super-lightweight Dalton Smith solidified the consensus that he has now moved out of prospect territory with victory over Mauro Perouene.
The Sheffield fighter dominated from start to finish, flooring his opponent during the final seconds of the fifth round which led to the corner withdrawing their man at the end of the session.
Meanwhile, Australian featherweight Skye Nicolson recorded her fourth successive victory as a professional with a routine points win over Gabriela Bouvier.
Darren Plant
